When They Part
by Shadokin
Summary: Riley had a thought.


"Let's meet in another life, Ellie."

"Huh?"

Ellie looked up from the bite mark on her arm, skin toned red from the dried blood she couldn't get off. Riley had shoved her hands into her pockets of her jacket, the pair of them carefully walking through the mall.

"Wherever we go next," Riley said. "Let's make sure we met up again when we get there."

Ellie bit her bottom lip, and tried to ignore the thought—they weren't going to be alive a few days from now, heck, maybe they'll be gone by tomorrow night.

"You mean heaven? You believe in that stuff?"

"I don't know," Riley said, stopping and tapping the front of her shoe to the ground. "The way I see it: we got to be going somewhere. I mean, once you're infected, and it… takes over, that's it. We're not alive anymore. We're gone. But our body stays here, to be used by those creatures."

Ellie kicked a rock with her foot, looking up after to make sure they were still alone.

"So," Riley continued. "Where do our souls go? Our spirits? Maybe we just come back, and go through life again as the next person."

"That's kind of weird." Ellie said. "That means we had lives once, before all this. Right?"

"Maybe. It'd be nice if we could remember it though."

"I wonder what kind of things we did." Ellie said, a smile bursting on her face, reaching over to Riley and tapping her shoulder. "I bet we actually did go surfing in L.A.!"

Laughter escaped Riley's mouth, her own smile forming. "We? You think we were together then?"

Ellie paused and pressed her lips together, glancing away.

"Well, maybe we were."

"Now who's the sap?"

"Shut up. You're the one that wants me to promise to make sure we find each other again."

More light from the sun crept in through the cracks of the building. Ellie stepped into one of the beams of light, the heat on her clothes a welcomed one.

"Hey, Riley, are we going to—Riley!"

Ellie ran forward, arms out to catch her friend before she fell to the floor. She bore Riley's weight slumped against her, until Riley regained her bearings and pulled away.

"Shit, are you—"

"I'm fine." She said, shutting her eyes and raising a hand to cover her face. "It's probably just… you know."

"Yeah," Ellie sighed, looking back to her arm. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize." Riley said, her voice firm enough that Ellie couldn't argue. "…How are you feeling?"

"Well, you almost passed out on me, so when my heart settles down, I'll let you know."

"No, that's not—" Riley shook her head. "How are you feeling?"

Oh. Ellie rubbed her arm, wishing she had a jacket so she could at least pretend for a few seconds that she hadn't been bitten.

"I feel fine, I guess."

Riley unpocketed her left hand, her gaze falling to her own mark before looking over to Ellie's. There was a pause, and then she did a double take.

"W-what?" Ellie asked. Riley met her eyes, keeping quiet as she slowly walked over to her friend.

"Look." Riley holding out her hand next to Ellie's arm, and Ellie saw that the skin at the base on Riley's palm was beet red, and it had grown farther up her thumb.

"Yours is still the same." Riley said. "Maybe it happens quicker for certain people."

Blinking hard, Ellie pulled her arm away. She didn't want to think about that, about any of it. But she did, she thought of Riley turning while she hadn't. So much for losing their minds together.

Riley swallowed, and Ellie realized how terrified they both were. She reached forward, and as though reading her mind, Riley met her halfway. Arms secured around each other, Riley rested her head on Ellie's shoulder, and Ellie did her best to ignore the tears that slid from her eyes.

"I should have just walked you home." Riley said, her voice scratchy.

"Don't you apologize now." Ellie said back, words muffled from her mouth pressed into Riley's shirt. She got no reply outside of Riley gripping her tighter, and they stayed like that for a while.

"I'm not going to leave," Ellie told Riley when they pulled apart. Riley blinked at her in confusion. "If you… if you turn before me. I'm not—I mean…"

"Ellie, it's," Riley took a breath and looked up to the ceiling, eyes wide before she met her again. "It's fine."

Ellie sniffed, and looked back to her arm again. With her other hand, she brushed her fingertips along the indents in her flesh.

"We're almost near the exit, let's keep going." Riley said. Right, they would keep going, keep walking until something happened. Be it the infection setting in, or if they were caught by soldiers or Fireflies. One way or another, things would be ending soon.

"Do you, I don't know, want to rest first?"

Riley gave Ellie a look, and the question suddenly felt silly. This wasn't going to stop, and it wasn't going to go away. All they could do was what Riley said. They had to keep going.

Riley had only taken one more step before Ellie said, "Okay, wait."

Running a hand over her forehead and through her hair, Ellie moved to Riley's side.

"We should do it." She said, a strand of hair falling out of place as she nodded her head. "Meet in the next life. If it's true, if we both come back… then we'll find each other again."

How they would even do that was unknown, but it was all they had now.

Riley smiled, relief flooding through her face. "Good."


End file.
